Winchester model 21 at Spokane gun show

[Bill Murphy]

Thomas, I dreamed about Model 21s from the time I was given a 1955 Winchester catalog when I was ten years old. A few years later, I was a starving college freshman when my Dad asked me about two guns that were listed in the classifieds of the Washington Post. A gentleman was offering a pair of 21s in an oak and leather Purdey trunk case for $1000. I told my Dad that Model 21s in standard grades were no longer being made and the new Custom Grades were $1000 each. We decided to go and look at them. They were a brand new 20 gauge 28" Skeet and a brand new 12 gauge 28" Field Grade. The two gun Purdey case was in very good shape also. The seller said they were his parents' guns and he had split up the Purdeys and kept the case. My Dad was smitten with the guns and asked if I could pay for one if he paid for the other. I told him I could just about cover it, so we went home with them. He took the 20 and I just about wore the blue off the 12 over the next few years of bird hunting and clay target shooting. I still have the 20, which has not been fired more than a few hundred times and is still new. It was part of my and Kevin McCormack's excellent Model 21 display at Baltimore in 2013.